Driving a half-track during WWII, Robert Wheeler spent his nearly three years on the move.

Driving a half-track during World War II, Robert Wheeler spent his nearly three years on the move. It’s likely why he didn’t have time to think about the dangers always ahead. “We were moving all the time, really,” he said. “You did not stop for nothing. I think they did that to keep you from getting irritable or scared.”Wheeler, who grew up in Tennessee, came to Lima, where aunts and uncles lived, in 1941. He was working as a contractor putting a roof on the Ohio Steel building when he got called to serve. He was 21 with a wife and two children when he left in 1942 for Camp Gruber in Oklahoma. “Look at this picture, a 21-year-old boy,” Wheeler points to a young man in uniform. A corporal technician, Wheeler’s job was often to block off roads so German troops couldn’t get through. His vehicle, a tank destroyer, was outfitted with regular wheels at the front for steering and Caterpillar tracks at the back to propel it and carry the load.

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